


Charmed Omens

by BranwenAriel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Boy-Who-Lived Neville Longbottom, F/F, F/M, M/M, Slytherin Harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-16 15:26:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4630359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BranwenAriel/pseuds/BranwenAriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry Evans has known magic all his life. He is fascinated by everything that he can learn at Hogwarts. He is unsure where he fits in this world though. Join Harry as he enters Hogwarts for the first time to confront his past and embrace his future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 “Evans, Harry” rang out in the hall. The stern-faced witch looked towards the gathered first years and waited patiently until the black-haired boy had extracted himself from his peers. The boy scampered towards her and sat down on the stool that was placed in front of the teacher’s table.  ‘Hmmm most difficult… hmmm.. a sharp mind and a fierce need to prove yourself…hmmm and loyalty towards those that you deem important to you…hmmm what to do? Well, Mister Evans any thoughts?’ murmured an elderly voice within the confines of the hat. ‘Well I would prefer not to go to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff seems to me a wrong fit… so Ravenclaw please’ replied the boy. ‘Hmm well you would fit with those of sharp mind, but I think that you would do better with Slytherin.. .They will help you in your ambitions. Any objections? No? Okay SLYTHERIN!’

  The boy heaved a sigh and removed the hat from his head and handed it back. He looked about and saw that the green and silver table was clapping politely. He moved towards the table and found a seat at the head of the table clearly cleared for the future first years and joined a big mean looking boy earlier identified as Crabbe. The sorting meanwhile had continued and Harry listened as his year mates were sorted into the four houses. A few girls joined his table before it was time to sort Neville Longbottom. The boy with the lightning bolt scar sat down and after a long wait was sorted into Gryffindor. Not all sortings took such a long deliberation as a young pointy faced, blonde boy was sorted In Slytherin even before the hat was placed on his head.

         Harry was looking at the remaining children and his eyes fell on another black haired boy, this one wore glasses and had deep blue eyes, but he did have the same tangled mess of hair as Harry himself.  ‘Apparently, the hair is genetic’ thought Harry ‘I am so happy that mom insisted on giving me an eye-correction potion’. He continued to stare at the boy and this led to the boy noticing that someone was watching him. Charles, as the boy was named, locked eyes with Harry and Harry was at a loss what to do. Just at that moment, the professor’s voice rang out with “Potter, Charles” and Charles moved toward the stool. After a couple of minutes, the hat said “Gryffindor”. Harry could only be relieved that he was not forced to share his dorm with his younger half-brother. “Ah the infamous Potter Heir” said the pointy-faced boy seated next to Harry “Have you been in contact with him, Evans?” Harry turned towards the boy and gave him an unimpressed once over and remained silent.  Rebuked the boy stuck out his hand and said “Draco Malfoy”. Harry looked at the hand and decided to take it, ‘you never know if someone would turn out useful’. “Harry Evans, formerly of the house Potter. And to answer your question; no I have not been in contact with him or our father. However, I do not see how this is any of your business.” “If I have caused offense I apologise as I was just curious. The ascendance of the current heir was a shock that has been felt within society for a long time. For a family to slight their firstborn and to actually strip him of his name is a rare thing.  So your situation is cause for curiosity.” Draco explained “but I  understand that it might be a very sore subject. “ Harry shrugged his shoulders and looked towards the last student to be sorted “I don’t really care. I have been Harry Evans for as long as I have known my name so I have no ill feelings towards this Potter or his father.”

        Blaise Zabini, the last to be sorted, got the honour of becoming a Slytherin and joined Harry and Draco at the table. After which the Headmaster addressed the hall and warned them of the dangers of the Third Floor. Several of the Slytherin upper-years seemed concerned by this news and started to furiously whisper to each other. Harry decided to focus on his housemates when the Headmaster decided to lead the school in the school song. Harry looked at the table and noticed that the girls and boys had decided to separate and he was surrounded by Draco, Crabbe, Zabini and two other boys.

As he had not been introduced to them yet he turned towards Draco and asked him to introduce him to the others. As it seemed to Harry as if Draco was acquainted with most of the first years. The other two boys turned out to be Gregory Goyle and Theodore Nott. The last began a conversation with Harry about Charms. “My father has mentioned that Ms. Evans is a great Charms Mistress. Do you know a lot of Charms already?” Theodore politely asked. Harry was unsure how to answer that question, should he be completely honest or should he hide the truth? In the end he decided to be sparse with the truth. “My mother has taught me some Charms. Mostly household charms designed to make it easier to keep the house functioning. Mother decided that it was better for me to learn the other charms here at school. But she did go over the first few chapters of the schoolbook with me. She wanted to make sure that I had a basic understanding of her favourite subject.”

He had not lied, but in reality, his Charms education extended beyond the first three years. His mother had found an eager student in young Harry and had helped him progress after finding him with a first year’s book when he was just nine. He had picked the book up while visiting a secondhand bookshop with his Uncle Remus. And when she had found him practicing the wand movements with a stick, she had decided to teach him properly. And he had turned out to be both an eager and a talented student. Over the last three years he had mainly focused on Charms, however, he had also decided to look into Potions. This came about after Lily had explained that he could not perform the charms properly without his own wand and that he was only allowed his personal wand at age eleven. Her wand performed adequately but not perfectly for Harry. In his search to find a wandless subject, he found Potions to be an engaging subject. And as with Charms his mother had stimulated his thirst for knowledge and had acquired several basic books on potion making which would be helpful for him.

          Before the conversation could continue the table was suddenly stacked with food and both boys decided to eat rather than talk. Harry supplemented his healthy choices with some treacle tart and orange juice. Over dessert, the boys talked about their favourite quiditch teams and which class they were most looking forward to. Harry learned that most boys looked down on Charms and were looking forwards to Defence against the Dark Arts and Potions. He himself was interested in the Wizarding Culture class and the Magical Theory Class. But he decided not to share this as he had a feeling that it would draw unintended attention to the fact that his upbringing was not strictly magical.He had heeded the warning from his Uncle Remus while they were discussing his possible placement within Slytherin and his words had cautioned him enough not to want to draw attention to his Muggleborn mother.

After an hour the plates were mostly empty and most children had put down their cutlery signaling that they were done. Harry did notice that a red-headed boy seated next to Neville Longbottom was continuing to stuff his face and to Harry’s horror, the boy decided to speak with his mouth open. “Weasleys have no sense of dignity and have no manners to speak off.” Said Draco who had noticed where Harry’s eyes had wandered “However it seems that Potter has missed out on some lessons in etiquette as well” he nodded to the other side of Ron where Charles was sat. He also did not swallow his food before he decided to answer Ron’s questions. Harry scoffed and said “if what I was told was correct then you should not expect a lot of manners out of Potter. My father apparently held good manners in contempt and he has clearly raised Charles with that in mind.”” Clearly, someone taught you differently Evans” said Draco. At that moment the tables were cleared and the hook-nosed professor rose from behind the teacher’s table and nodded towards the Slytherin table. This was a sign for the upper years to get up and to gather the first years for their first trek through the dungeons towards the Slytherin Common Room


	2. Chapter Two

Down and down they went, twisting around corners and dodging into hidden pathways towards what Harry suspected to be the best protected common room within Hogwarts. “How are we supposed to remember this?” he asked Draco. Draco gave him a grin and said “They will have a way. Slytherins have been using these paths for a thousand year. We are not the first firsties and we will not be the last. They will tell us the trick tomorrow. Just enjoy the show”. Finally, after what felt like an hour, they arrived at a blank stretch of wall. The prefect hissed a word and the entryway into the common room appeared. The prefect stepped back and said “First the girls and then the boys will enter. Please gather in front of the painting of Salazar Slytherin. Our head of house, Potion Master Severus Snape, wants to welcome you to the house before you will be led to your dorms. Got it?” All the first years nodded and followed his directions.

Harry got his first brief glimpse of the room that would be his home away from home. The overall tone of the room was green; not only the traditional Slytherin green but also the greens of emeralds and spring. All this was interspersed with dark wood and accents of silver. It was intimidating and impressive, and if you looked no further you would think the room would be cold. But the furniture itself was comfy and the floors were covered by thick carpets, but most impressive of all was the central fireplace on top of which the painting of the house founder was placed. The inhabitant of the painting appeared to be sleeping and took no notice of the gathered first years.

While the first years were gathered in front of the fireplace the rest of the house excepting the prefects had moved on to the dorms. The Potions Master stepped into the Common Room and faced the first years “Welcome to the house of Ambition and Cunning. The hat has deemed you worthy of this house and I expect you to live up to the hats choice. This means that there are three rules that you as Slytherin need to follow. First: No grades below Acceptable. If you are failing a class you will be ambitious and cunning enough to find a way to raise your grades. Secondly, within this house, you will find comradery and companionship. The other houses do not understand your drive and will have opinions on your placement. We will need to appear as one solid block. I will not tolerate rivalries outside of these rooms. If you have problems with each other sort it out in here. Not out there, where they will seize every weakness to hold it against us. And finally, I expect you to be the best that you can be. Do not deceive me and do not underestimate me. I will know when you are underperforming. In order to assess you, everyone will have a meeting with me in the next two weeks. I will post a list of the meeting times on the message board over there” Snape turned around and pointed towards a board placed next to the entrance to the common room. “Every third Saturday there will be an obligatory class on Magical Customs and Manners. You will be there as well as at the weekly study hall on Friday afternoon. I have office hours and I will post them on the message board. For small internal matters, you can always turn towards the prefects. They will introduce themselves in a moment. Again welcome and good night.” And with a flourish, Professor Snape left the room.

A tall boy clad in a pair of grey slacks and a green button down shirt stepped forwards “Well I can imagine that you all are dead tired. I have some quick introductions to do and then we will lead you to your rooms.” He stated in a nice even baritone. “I am prefect Uruqheart and I am the fifth year prefect. To my left, I have Crabbe and Avery, who are the male prefects for sixth and seventh year respectively. And the lovely ladies to my right are in ascending order Vimes, Nott and Yaxley. If you have questions in the coming days do not hesitate to come to us. That is our task. School will officially start tomorrow at ten o’ clock. In order to prepare you we will take you on a tour of the building. Ensuring that you know your way to class and to this common room. We will start at 7 o’clock with the way to breakfast. For now, I will take the boys and Vimes will take the girls and we will show you to where you will sleep. Boys, follow me!”

  
While walking directly behind Prefect Uruqhart Harry was excited to finally see his new dorm. He turned towards Theodore Nott who was walking next to him “Did you expect Slytherin?” he asked. “Yes my whole family has been sorted mostly within Slytherin and I have been assessed before as most probably going to this house” at Harry’s uncomprehending look he continued “some families have assessments of their children before Hogwarts. It was previously used to enable families to get rid of undesirable elements but as the size of Pureblood families have reduced so have the possibilities of excluding family members from the line of succession. Now it is mostly seen as a rite of passage and as a way to have a small celebration before leaving home for the first time.” “Are there more traditions like that ?” “Too many to recount now but I do have a book for you if you are interested. And I am sure that they will be discussed during the obligatory Saturday class”. Harry expressed his thanks and turned his attention to the dark hallway. Unlike the common room, the hallway had a damp feel to it. “Do you think that we are under the Black Lake?” Harry asked Theo. Prefect Uruqhart heard the question and answered “We are indeed under the lake, during the winter months it does get cold so I suggest investing in some good warm winter wear. The common room is cozy but the dormitories can be cold.”

By this time they had arrived at the dormitories designated for the first years. “As there are six of you we have divided you into three dormitories. Every dormitory has a study area with a desk and a small bookshelf for each of you. You are expected to keep your dormitory presentable and neat. The house elves do clean but they do not tidy. You will find your name on a door and your trunk has been moved there as well. The house elves have taken your robes to be altered to reflect your house. There is a shared bathroom right over there and you will be woken up by me tomorrow at six thirty and we will leave at seven so be sure that you are ready to leave by that time. That was all for me. Sleep tight and see you tomorrow. “ with that Prefect Uruqhart moved further along the hallway to disappear into his own room.

Harry moved to the door with his and Blaise Zabini’s name, he opened it and found a decent sized room divided in two. His oxblood red trunk was placed on the right-hand side of the room. He opened the doors of the armoire which was placed next to his bed and found his clothes there. He picked out his pajama and placed it with his toiletry bag on top of his covers. He was just going to make himself ready for bed and then before going to sleep, he was planning to write to his mother. It seemed like Blaise had the same idea as he was grabbed his toiletries as well. “Evans, are you going to the bathroom?” “Yes, let’s go.”

  
The bathroom had a simple locker room configuration. There were even a few lockers meant for keeping the boys' toiletries, each locker was adorned with the name of the owner and a hook which held a little key. He quickly brushed his teeth and afterward put his toiletry bag in his locker. He waited for Blaise and they walked back to their room. “Are you okay with me writing a letter and reading for a bit?” Harry asked. He figured that it was better to start on an amicable footing with his roommate. “That is fine. I was planning to do the same. Shall we go to the owlery tomorrow to send them off?” Harry nodded and turned towards his desk.

 

_Hi Mum,_  
_How are you?_  
_I have had a good time on the train. I met some other first years and we chatted the whole way. I am unsure if we will further our friendship as none of them have been sorted into the same house. I hope that you will not be disappointed in my sorting. I have become part of Slytherin. I know that we discussed the possibility but we always assumed that I would go to Ravenclaw. I do like it here and some of the other boys seem nice. I will let you know later how it goes. We have rooms that we share with one other person. I am sharing with Blaise Zabini._  
_Tomorrow we will have a tour of the school and our first classes. So I am looking forward to tomorrow. Both Neville and Charles have been sorted into Gryffindor. Hopefully, this means that I will not see Charles a lot._  
_I have forgotten my book’ The Magical Companion: Starting your own Grimoire’. I know that I am too young to start my own grimoire, but it was interesting and I want to finish it before Christmas._  
_All my love to Uncle Remus and can you pet Whisper for me? I miss her already!_

_Love,_  
_Harry Evans_


	3. Chapter 3

On Monday Harry woke up before the alarm. He decided to take this time to practice some of the charms that he had been taught by his mother. He stood up and used the _properum_ charm to tidy his bed and the _wrinkleaway_ charm on his clothing. He made sure that he was not wearing his clothes while using _wrinkleaway_ as previous experience had taught him that his hair did not enjoy the straightening effect. His mother had laughed so hard and till this day still threatened him with the pictures taken on that day.

Harry was happy with the results and dressed in his now pressed clothes. His robes had indeed gained the silver and green lining that Uruqheart had promised. He grabbed his bag and put it on his desk. After glancing at Blaise’s bed he made sure to quietly open his trunk and move his schoolbooks to the bookshelf above the desk. His books were then arranged by subject and placed between his charmed bookends. The left bookend was in the shape of a raven and the right in the shape of a cat.

Harry tapped the raven with his wand and whispered “librorum custodiet Harry Evans”. The raven shuddered, peered Harry in the eye and finally nodded before assuming its previous position. Harry decided not to use the cat’s function as he did not have enough books yet to require a record of the books he used. The raven would safeguard his books and ensure that only Harry was able to use them. He rummaged in his bag and extracted the spider and snake that his mother had also charmed for him. The spider would guard his trunk and the snake would do the same for his bed. Harry had promised his mother that he would use these objects regardless of his house-placement. His mother had always worried about his safety due to his precarious situation and she had decided to gift him with several charmed guardian tokens. Harry himself found it excessive but promises were promises. And therefore he tapped each of the tokens and with a whispered instruction set them on their designated task.

He really wanted to pack his bag for the rest of the day as he still had half an hour before Uruqheart would wake everyone up, but as he did not know his classes he opened his trunk for the last time and took out his Third Year Charms book from the secret compartment that Uncle Remus had charmed in his trunk. The compartment would only open to Harry, Uncle Remus and his mother: it contained a slight extension so that he was able to fit up to 15 books in there. The books that he decided to put there at the moment were Third Year Charms and Potions. Books that he should not have as of yet according to the school governors. 

He grabbed one of the book sleeves that his mother had charmed to look like _Hogwarts: a History._ This way he could further hide his reading material. This appealed to Harry’s innate crafty personality.  In his opinion, this trait was the main reason why the hat had decided against Ravenclaw in the end. After using the bathroom he went to the empty common room and selected one of the seats near the fire. There he settled down and read until the rest of his classmates assembled.

After half an hour of reading, he heard the murmurs coming from the First Year corridor. Slowly but steadily his classmates emerged from the corridor one by one. The last to arrive was Draco who was followed by Uruqheart. Both seemed to be in an animated discussion about the earliness of the wake-up call.

“All right, everyone is here,” Uruqhart said. Surveying his audience he moved slowly in a circle. “Today is the day that you will first experience what it means to be Slytherin. Today you will no longer be an innocent eleven-year-old wizard or witch. From this day onwards you will be known as sly and ambitious. Willing to go the distance to achieve your goal. Today, you will be met with suspicions and ridicule. And therefore we will introduce some basic rules and discuss how you can navigate this new world of ours.”

Uruqhart once again made sure to meet everyone’s eyes. “We have divided you into groups. Each group will receive an introduction to Slytherin and a tour of the school. The prefect leading your group will be responsible for your day to day queries. Please contact him or her whenever you have any problems. The prefect will also help you navigate the school and evaluate what you need to succeed in your scholarly pursuits. Please sit down and wait until your name is called. And don’t hesitate to have a cup of tea”  he finished with a clap and suddenly there were three tea sets on the coffee table in the middle of the common room.

Harry was parched and decided to help himself to one of the cups of tea. With it he sat himself down on the couch and waited for his name to be called. The prefect Nicia Vimes was the first to call her group together “Evans, Bulstrode, Zabini and Davis  please join me.” She said before she walked into one of the adjoining rooms. The four students swiftly followed her.

“This is one of the study rooms,” she said “Slytherin has about 28 of these rooms scattered around the dungeons and all have been designated according to a year. Every year has about three of these rooms. By coming in here we have claimed this one for you four. It is not uncommon that you switch between the first year study rooms. However, if you decide to use one of the elder ones uninvited please note that you can expect to be rapidly evicted. Every year decorates their study rooms according to the seasons. _Appardit “_ The last was accompanied with a wave of her wand and suddenly the wall opposite the door was decorated in green and silver snakes which slithered around the words First Year Study Room A. The four desks suddenly each acquired a statue and a vase of green and silver roses. The statues were in the shape of a snake coiled around an inkpot and it held a silver and green quill in its mouth. With another quiet word, a stack of parchment appeared on each desk.

Vimes seemed to be watching their reactions and judging from her slight smile Harry thought that their reactions did not disappoint. “Now, the statues are a gift from the house and will recognise their user for the next seven years. This means that the desk that you choose now will be your desk for the next seven years. The banner will change as you progress in your career.”

Harry took stock of the desk arrangement and with a look at his companions moved to the small alcove in the back of the room. The desk was next to a floor to ceiling window into the Black Lake. At this time in the morning, it was too early to really make out the denizens of the lake but Harry did see a Grindylow hidden in the undergrowth closest to the window. He checked again if the others did not object to his choice. It seemed that Zabini had chosen the desk closest to him while the two girls had chosen the pair of desks situated on the other side of the room. In the middle of the room there was a table clearly meant to ensure that they had a space where they could do practical work together or alone. Vimes motioned for them to grab the quill from the snake’s mouth as this would activate the recognition charm 

The four students joined her at the worktable after grabbing hold of the quills. “I will start with a brief introduction in the social structure of the school and of our house. We will then move on to a brief introduction of every class and a guide to the known professors and what you can expect from them and what they expect from you. We will do this by using the schedules that you will receive from me in a few moments. But before I start please give your full name, parents’ name and occupation, and county of residence. This is not idly done and I will tell you the use later in the introduction. We will do this alphabetically so Bulstrode you are first up.” Vimes motioned to the heavyset blonde girl to start.

 

“My name is Millicent Augustina Bulstrode, my parents are Augustus Bulstrode and Nikoa Olafson-Bulstrode. My father works for the office of Muggle Dis-Information and Registration and my mother works for the muggle division of Gringotts. We have a house in London but live full time in the Cotswolds “said Millicent “ I prefer to be called Tina as Millicent cannot be shortened to anything suiting me”

“ I am Tracey Davis and I live in Cambridgeshire. My father is a fulltime member of the Wizengamot and my mom writes for the Daily Prophet. Their names are Cecil Davis and  Maud Davis-Yaxley. “ she rattled the information clearly nervous and shy.

Now it was Harry’s turn. “I am Harry Fitz Evans and I am the son of Lily Evans and James Potter. My mother is a Charms Mistress and is the co-owner of Lillies & Lupins. This is a store specialised in Charmed objects for everyday use and for defence purposes in Horizont Alley.” Here he trailed off not sure if he needed to mention his father as he did not consider his link with the man of any consequence, but apparently, Vimes disagreed and motioned for him to continue. “ My father is an Auror and lives in Godric’s Hollow in Somerset. My mum and I live in London over the shop” frustrated by the slight tremor in his voice Harry stopped talking and looked at Zabini to indicate that it was his turn.

 “My name is Blaise Trevalyan Zabini and I live with my mother in Edinburgh. My father is originally from Naples and he was an Auror and passed away when I was six. My mom is an expert in Arithmancy and writes the daily horoscopes for the Daily Prophet and consults for the Ministry of Magic wherever they need it.”

 “Thank you for these introductions. The reason why I wanted you all to give information about your family and where you live is to see if we could find a common ground and make predictions on what you need. How you will wonder?” she said while looking at the confused faces surrounding her. “Harry, why do you think that I forced you to tell us about your family situation even though it was evident that you were uncomfortable?” Harry was quiet for a few more seconds trying to determine what her goal could have been. Blaise seemed to know but Harry wanted to find the reason himself.

“The only thing I can think of is that you wanted me to expose a weakness in front of this small group so that I would know to guard for this weakness when we leave here later today.” He said, slowly gaining confidence that what he said was correct by watching Vimes. With a grin Vimes continued “Yes indeed, all of you showed a slight weakness in such a small introduction. In Slytherin all these are potential weaknesses that can be used against you within the house but certainly outside of it. So guard your tongue better than you have done here and ensure that you are careful with the information that you share.”

Vimes then handed out four sheets of parchment. “Now that I have given that warning, I would also like to share with you the advantage of sharing information with a small group. You four now know each other’s’ weakness but also your strengths. Therefore you are able to form an alliance to your advantage and use your assets to form a study group for example. And now you have learned another key Slytherin strength that of building networks.” The last was said with a smirk and Vimes continued ”Slytherin is on the bottom of the social hierarchy in Hogwarts. This is due to the fact that children misunderstand our drive and see it as negative. Moreover, the last dark lord supposedly came from this house and has recruited from here heavily. So do not be surprised if you are called Junior Death Eater or the like. Just ignore the outspoken ones and search for allies in the other houses. Gryffindor might be an issue but the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws should be willing to form study groups. Now it is time for the professors and their expectations.”

What followed was a cascade of information, which made one thing clear for Harry and that was the shortage of professors with a favourable opinion of Slytherin. There were 2 in total that would favour Slytherins, Snape and Sinistra. Some would be without clear opinions like Flitwick and Vector. The others would have a bias against them and they should not expect fair treatment. Vimes ended this section by showing them their schedule and giving them the opportunity to ask their questions.

She took them to the Common room where the others were slowly gathering as well. Uruqheart again took charge of the meeting. Harry did not understand why a fifth-year prefect would take the lead even as a seventh year was available. He supposed that this might be due to social rules that he did not yet know. And determined that he would either look this information up or ask one of his year mates. Theodore Nott seemed likely to be in the know.

“Okay, you have been introduced to the basics of Slytherin life. The last information that you will need before the tour is that the notice board over there will show you if classes have changed or if special opportunities or occasions have come up. As an example the meeting schedule with our head of House will be posted there. So look at it later today to see when you are expected to meet with him. Your first class on Monday usually would be Charms but as this is the first day of the school year this class has been canceled. So grab your bags and books for Transfiguration. During Lunch you will have the opportunity to grab the others. The sports class has been canceled as well as it is the first day of the school year. You will be expected in your study room instead where your prefect will either have left your assignments or will be there in person. This is dependent on their schedule. Any questions?”

“Is the library open already?” Harry asks, hoping that he would finally be able to read some of the books he was unable to afford before.

“Yes, the library opens at 7:00 and is open until 20:00 for the first three years. Fourth years and older are allowed to stay in the library until 22:30” replies Uruqheart with a fond look on his face. “There is always one person who asks after the library. For now, we are going to show you the way to the Great Hall. As I am sure that the tea was not enough to sustain you until lunch.” With that, he stepped through the door and started walking.

Vimes stayed close to Harry and said “If you want to know your way through the dungeons you have to look for the snake sculptures. They are charmed so that only those with a Slytherin school badge will be able to see them.” And as they were walking through the second corridor, sure enough, Harry saw a snake pointing in the direction where they were coming from.

“What is stopping other houses from wearing one of our robes?” asked Blaise. Vimes seemed to take a moment to formulate her answer. “I will tell you later today in the study room. The corridors are not a good place to discuss the security measures that have been taken to safeguard the dungeons. Rest assured we are not as easily defeated as you would think.”

After a couple of turns and two staircases, they found themselves in the reception area. Uruqheart made them stop here. ”Okay before we go in I wanted to ask your attention for the hourglasses. These count the house points for the Housecup. Furthermore, look at the staircase next to it. This is the main staircase. It will take you to all the floors except for the Third Floor as that has been cordoned off for the moment. On the second floor, you will find the library and on the first the infirmary. We will, of course, take you there later but if you wanted to sneak into the library you now know where to find it.” Uruqheart gave Harry a knowing look.

Harry decided not to take the bait and walked with his fellow first year to the end of the table closest to the teachers. He noticed that Slytherin was the first house to arrive. He took a look at his charmed pocket watch and activated the normal clock face. He saw that it was only 8:30 in the morning.

 


End file.
